Change is *mostly* good.

1. I’ve decided to change a few things around here. Starting next week, these posts will become Three Things Thursday posts. It’s common and it will be easier to be consistent when I only have to post the top three things going on in my life. Actually, it may be more challenging than easy.

I have also decided to change my training log posts from a Friday-Thursday cycle to a less obscure Monday-Sunday cycle. This is the cycle my Garmin Connect and Buckeye Outdoors accounts are set to so, again, it will make blogging easier, etc.

2. Our camping trip was great ! We had so much fun. It was borderline too cold the first night. Luka woke up with boogies all over her snout and breathing funny which gave us a big scare, but she was back to normal as soon as she warmed up. The next night was warmer, but we still wrapped her up in our picnic duvet which she seemed to love. We went for a nice walk on Saturday but our favorite part was roasting vegan marshmallows and making s’mores by an open fire. This time, we didn’t complicate things with too much food and a big giant cooler. We took canned soup, chili and some instant rice. The meals were quaint, but allowed us to spend less time cooking and more time enjoying the actual camping experience.

I haven’t finished uploading all the photos, but here are a few that I took with my phone:

3. I ended up trying the maple version of the pecan pie recipe I mentioned last week. It’s really delicious, but of course more maple-ish than traditional pecan pie. I’m not sure how I feel about using corn syrup, so I think I’m going to try Allison‘s recommendation for my next attempt.

4. Geoffrey and I opened presents on Friday morning before leaving for our camping trip.

All the presents ready to be opened !

It felt exciting and a bit naughty to open presents early and, at the same time, it was a bummer because we didn’t get to play with our new toys. :-( I was especially sad about the latter because Geoffrey got me a new All-Clad Belgian waffle iron !!! This is super exciting because a few years ago, when I decided I wanted a waffle iron, I opted for a cheap one. Back then I thought buying a waffle iron was like buying a new frying pan. Sure, there are different types, but how different could they possibly be ? Well, after experimenting with my cheap waffle iron and getting consistently below average results I decided to do some research. Original waffle irons were made out of, well, iron, but that’s not very practical these days. Fortunately, waffle irons are now made out of many different materials that produce comparable results. After a bit of looking around, I fell in love with the All-Clad 2-square waffle iron. It’s robust, yet compact enough to fit in our crowded kitchen and the best part if that it makes absolutely perfect Belgian waffles. I tried it out on Monday with a simple recipe and both Geoffrey and I were thrilled beyond words with them. So thrilled, actually, that we forgot to take pictures ! We’ll be making waffles again for New Year’s breakfast and will make sure to post some pictures then.

5. I’ve taken an almost week-long break from running because my feet started hurting after each run and kept getting worse as my marathon training long runs got longer. I have another long run coming up this weekend so I decided to cut back and give whatever was flaring up a rest. I’ve also decided to get new shoes. For whatever reason, after wearing Asics Nimbus for years, I was talked into buying a pair of Adidas during my last purchase. At first they were OK, but they seem very stiff which my feet just don’t like. I think I’m going to go back to the Nimbus. Stay tuned.

By the way, I finally tried the recipe you recommended and it’s definitely more like the pecan pie I remember, though a bit more healthy, of course. We had some friends over and they loved it. Thanks again !